"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Milk thistle, milk thistle
Let me down slow
Help me go slow
I've been carrying on
I'm not scared of nothing
I'll go pound for pound
I keep death on my mind
Like a heavy crown
If I go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a little baby
At the bottom of a well
Fair child, fair child
How are you man?
Did you fix that storefront?
Did you start that band?
Don't be scared of nothing
You go pound for pound
You bring peace to midnight
Like a spotted owl
I'll be rooting for you
Like my favorite team
If somebody sweats you
You just point them out to me
All the sights and sounds
This little world's too crowded now
And there's only one way out
An elevator ride
Through the tunnel towards the light
And I'm nowhere bound
Keep going up and down
Up and down
Newspaper, newspaper
Can't take no more
You're here every morning
Waiting at my door
I'm just trying to kiss you
And you stab my eyes
Make me blue forever
Like an island sky
And I'm not pretending
That it's all okay
Just let me have my coffee
Before you take away the day
Lazarus, Lazarus
Why all the tears?
Did your faithful chauffeur just disappear?
What a lonesome feeling
To be waiting around
Like some washed up actress
In a Tinseltown
But for the record
I'd come pick you up
We'll head for the ocean
Just say when you've had enough
All the light and sound
This little world's too fragile now
And there's only one way out
But if you let me slide
I'll do my best to make things right
And I'm nowhere bound
Just going up and down
Up and down
Milk thistle, milk thistle
Let me down slow
Just help me go slow
I've been hurrying on
I was poised for greatness
I was down and out
I keep death at my heels
Like a basset hound
If i go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a crying baby
At the bottom of a well
Let me down slow
Help me go slow
I've been carrying on
I'm not scared of nothing
I'll go pound for pound
I keep death on my mind
Like a heavy crown
If I go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a little baby
At the bottom of a well
Fair child, fair child
How are you man?
Did you fix that storefront?
Did you start that band?
Don't be scared of nothing
You go pound for pound
You bring peace to midnight
Like a spotted owl
I'll be rooting for you
Like my favorite team
If somebody sweats you
You just point them out to me
All the sights and sounds
This little world's too crowded now
And there's only one way out
An elevator ride
Through the tunnel towards the light
And I'm nowhere bound
Keep going up and down
Up and down
Newspaper, newspaper
Can't take no more
You're here every morning
Waiting at my door
I'm just trying to kiss you
And you stab my eyes
Make me blue forever
Like an island sky
And I'm not pretending
That it's all okay
Just let me have my coffee
Before you take away the day
Lazarus, Lazarus
Why all the tears?
Did your faithful chauffeur just disappear?
What a lonesome feeling
To be waiting around
Like some washed up actress
In a Tinseltown
But for the record
I'd come pick you up
We'll head for the ocean
Just say when you've had enough
All the light and sound
This little world's too fragile now
And there's only one way out
But if you let me slide
I'll do my best to make things right
And I'm nowhere bound
Just going up and down
Up and down
Milk thistle, milk thistle
Let me down slow
Just help me go slow
I've been hurrying on
I was poised for greatness
I was down and out
I keep death at my heels
Like a basset hound
If i go to heaven
I'll be bored as hell
Like a crying baby
At the bottom of a well
Lyrics submitted by tester2586
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
A song about the feelings around a overdose that almost led to death. At first, he is asking the milk thistle herb that has been used to neutralize the toxicity to bring him back. He wants to live. He realizes that he will die some day, but he wants to "go slow" like most people do, dying as part of a natural process, instead of suddenly like that.
He isn't begging for his life because he's scared. Part of him realizes that he must be drawn to death somehow since he overdosed, and yet he's changed his mind. By saying "If I go to heaven I'll be bored as hell", he's saying that he realizes that going to the afterlife may not be the solution. Maybe there will be problems even there. Maybe he will be bored.
On the other hand, he still feels like the world is crowded, and he knows that there is only one way out. He will die someday anyway, no matter what, which is a melancholy kind of thought.
So he thinks of the death process, as described in Near Death Experiences, where he goes through a tunnel toward the light. But he keeps going up and down and feels like he is "nowhere bound." He's ambivalent. He doesn't know if he really wants to go.
The section about Lazarus is also about ambivalence. Some people are highly depressed after being brought back from an NDE experience of the afterlife. They want to go back to the light, because it seems so much better than this world.
When he says, "If you let me slide, I'll do my best to make things right, it''s like he finally realizes that he has some unfinished business in this world. He wants to redeem his life and set things straight before he departs. So he is resolved to live. But the ambivalent feelings about death remain, just the same. Death is still at his heels, and in his mind.
A brilliant song full of depth and raw honesty. Conor Oberst has to rank with the greatest songwriters of all time.